Because assaults such as the one involving the now-hospitalized ISU student Cale Truhlsen occur nearly every weekend, the Ames Police Department would like to add surveillance cameras to the Welch Avenue area. 

“Unfortunately, things like this happen every weekend where someone does get punched and people take off and we’re left here to determine what happened without a lot of information,” said Cmdr. Jason Tuttle of the Ames Police Department. 

A hole in his small intestine, a broken nose, two black eyes and possible internal bleeding behind one eye was the result of Truhlsen’s assault Feb. 8 around 1:50 a.m.

The sophomore in computer science was walking out of the 425 Welch apartment building, lagging behind a group of his friends, when he heard a group of eight or nine men on the sidewalk make a comment to a woman who was also on the sidewalk. 

“It was just a random girl going down the street,” his mother Jennifer Truhlsen said. “These groups of nine guys, I don’t know if they said something to her or what, and Cale heard and he kind of intervened and said, ‘woah, woah, woah,’ something like that.”

The men, which witnesses described as white men in their 30s to early 40s dressed “as cowboys” in hats and cowboy boots, circled Truhlsen.

Jennifer said her 6-foot-9-inch, 230-pound son remembers saying he was not going to fight and shaking one of the men’s hand. The next thing he knew, he was hit from behind, a man on either side of him holding him down on the sidewalk while two others punched and kicked him.

The incident consisted of three different fights after Cale’s friends and a bystander got involved, according to witnesses. Jennifer said one of Cale’s friends was able to pull one of the men off of Cale, “which probably saved Cale’s life,” Jennifer said. 

A female witness brought Cale into the 425 apartment complex and helped him to his friend’s apartment, where Cale stayed until 6:20 a.m. when his friend called an ambulance for Cale, who was “screaming in pain,” Jennifer relayed. 

Cale went into immediate emergency surgery for the hole in his intestine that was poisoning him by leaking fluids into his body. 

“In a couple of hours, he could very well have died,” Jennifer said. “Can you imagine if those guys had gone after that girl the way they went after my son?”

After being in the hospital for nine days, Cale has lost 16 pounds, misses his friends and is worried about his grades, Jennifer said. 

Though Cale’s breathing tube is now out and he was able to try real food on Feb. 17, Jennifer said she is still worried about the men who attacked her son.

“It makes me think they’re preying on these college students,” Jennifer said. “I’ve received messages from ISU students who are girls that I don’t even know. They all said that my son is just really honorable in the way he defended the girl.”

Jennifer said a female witness also came forward Feb. 17 and said the same thing happened the weekend of Feb. 1 in the same location with a group of older men dressed similarly as the suspects in Cale’s assault. 

“The men said something to her, and she told them to ‘f— off.’ Some guys stepped in and the next thing, she looked around and there was an all-out brawl. She said they were country boys,” Jennifer said.

Tuttle said the Ames Police Department deals with multiple assaults in the Campustown area on any given weekend.

“It involves poor judgment. It certainly doesn’t excuse what happened, but many of the cases we investigate each weekend are alcohol-related assaults,” Tuttle said.  

Though both Ames and ISU Police patrol the area, Tuttle said it often does little to deter fighting. 

“I’ve had people when I’m working start fights right in front of me,” Tuttle said. “People knew we were there, and they’re intoxicated and their judgment was poor and they just start fighting. We break up a lot of fights before they happen while we’re on foot patrol.”

Tuttle said the Ames Police Department has hoped to put surveillance cameras in crime hot spots on Welch Avenue and surrounding streets. In cases like Cale’s, police must rely heavily on witnesses and tips they receive from those who may or may not have gotten a clear picture of the suspects in assault cases. 

“In this particular case, it would be beneficial because more than likely we could at least get the comings and goings of some of the people who were involved,” Tuttle said. 

Ames police asked the Ames City Council in 2011 to consider putting cameras on Welch Avenue. Though the council did not vote in their favor, Tuttle said it is still something Ames Police would like to see happen in the future. 

Mayor Ann Campbell said the council members were concerned police would abuse the information they would be able to get from the surveillance cameras, but that her personal opinion was that the cameras would be a good idea. 

“The chief of police at the time made a very cogent argument that this is not to watch you when you go into Jimmy Johns, but this is to help with the investigation and the protection of victims,” Campbell said. “There was a City Council member afterward that did go riding with the police during the night and I think might have voted differently on another go-round.”

Jennifer said she would like to see cameras in Campustown, as well. 

“Let’s put some cameras out there and stop the problem,” Jennifer said. 

Anyone who has information about the suspect in Cale’s assault can call the Ames Police Department at 515-239-5133.